Hi guys! So, this is my one-shot about post-Hogwarts Jily, told from Snape's perspective. It's kind of angst-y, now that I look back at it. It was inspired by the Killers "Mr. Brightside". I hope you like it!
Snape didn't want to be there.
Watching them.
Watching them enjoying life.
He knew.
He knew that this assignment would upset him.
And yet He gave it to him anyway.
Working for the bad guys wasn't always fun, Snape had decided shortly after.
But, nevertheless, there he was.
Always watching.
She worked at Saint Mungos, in the children's ward.
But, she never apparated home. No, she took a cab every day, to their stupid little "meeting place."
They had gone out to dinner together every night for as long as Snape had been trailing them. Sometimes with others, such as Black and whoever his latest fling was.
Always smiling, always laughing. With these two, you wouldn't think that there was a war going on.
But there was.
And Snape was on the other side.
He knew what they were discussing. It was always with a big smile, to alert suspicion, but they talked about the war. They talked about the Order of the Phoenix, they talked about Him, they talked about all the death surrounding them. But they never managed to break their smiles. Not once.
Snape remembered the day clearly. They had been going out a few weeks.
"Hey Prongs, hey Lily." Black ran up to the couple, who were walking around the Hogwarts grounds.
"Oh, hey Padfoot. What's up with you?"
"Well, Moony and I have a bet going, you see. I say you've snogged Lily here, he says you haven't. Something about being a gentleman, blah blah blah.
Anyway, I need my 5 galleons, so am I right?" Potter and Lily had gone quite red.
"Well, um, we haven't really yet."
"What? What kind of a Marauder are you? I need a new best friend..." Black muttered while walking away. Potter and Lily had just laughed and kept walking.
Later, that night, the two of them were walking back to the Gryffondor dormitories, after sneaking out to Hogsmeade. Or rather, Potter begging Lily to go out to Hogsmeade, Lily only accepting because she needed a new quill.
Potter said goodnight, and just as he was turning to leave, Lily kissed him. He looked surprised, but then kissed her back.
Snape, who had been watching, had gotten tears in his eyes.
They exit the restaurant and say goodbye to their dinner dates, tonight it was Hestia Jones and her newly wed husband. Snape sees Lily watching her ring with envy.
They aren't married, or even engaged yet, but Snape knows that he is bound to pop the question any day now. He saw Potter put the ring into his sock drawer.
Lily Evans Potter. The name makes him feel sick to his stomach. What ever happened to Lily Evans Snape? That was lost in the summer between 5th and 6th year, he supposed.
They are home, and getting ready for bed. They are so comfortable around each other, that was something Snape never had with her. He was always on edge, alway worried he might say something wrong and set off her famous temper.
He can't bear to look. It hurts just to see them talking civilly together, but to see them living together, being happy together, he feels a gut-wrenching pain all over his body. He should be there, not Potter. Potter didn't deserve it.
But he has to look. It is his job. He told him to look, and that word was final.
And Snape couldn't disobey an order from him.
His job was worth too much. It was all he had. His sweet Lily was gone, his parents had never been there to start, and now with his Hogwarts days over, he was alone. His job was the only thing he had left.
So that was what he got. A life of loneliness, a life of bitterness. All because his mother had told him to when he was 7. When he was 7, everything seemed so clear. His mother made it out that he was one of the good guys, fighting for justice.
Bit now he knows. He knows that anyone fighting against Lily is bad. But he does it anyway.
All he had ever wanted, after that fateful day in June, was forgiveness. He would have even understood if she hadn't wanted to stay friends with him. But she never forgave him. She ignored him, went and talked with Potter or her other friends. Not once did she think of how lonely he was.
She had been his only friend.
He loved her. And yet, she never saw it. He looked at her, eyes filled with adoration, and she only saw him for his words.
She always managed to see goodness in everyone. She had been friends with him before, after all. And that was what Snape loved about her the most. Her willingness to see happiness, goodness, even in the darkest of times. She could look at anyone, and only see the positive side of them, never the negative.
And when she was around, the entire world was a bit brighter.
She had that effect on people. Just by talking to them, she could make them smile. She brightened up every room she walked into.
But she had a temper large enough to hold Dumbledore's beard. And a grudge twice that size. And when someone hurt her, she couldn't forgive them.
Ever.
Heaven knows how she ever agreed to go out with Potter.
Everyone changes, he guesses. Why couldn't she bend her rules for him too?
He loved her, but she wasn't able to see it, blinded by Potter and their friends.
And so he looked, with his big, black eyes shining, as the love of his life got engaged to his sworn enemy.
He looked, as Lily married the one man who could make him cry.
He even watched as they had a child together.
He saw everything with his eager eyes.
